Chapter 2: America: Land of Democracy

The United States has always been a source of fascination — both attraction and repulsion — for the people of France, Mexico, China, and African countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, and Sudan. "America Through Foreign Eyes" is a rich, interdisciplinary, international course that features Rice University faculty from a variety of disciplines and area studies. Focused on perceptions of America abroad, the course is a cross between World Cultures and American Studies. The course features five core modules, each covering the perceptions and interactions of particular regions with America, Americans and Americanization.

审阅

MR

This course is very detailed in the history of perception each country holds when thinking of the United States. It was riveting, surprising at times, and deeply enriching.

PL

Feb 23, 2017

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

This course gave me an eye opening view of the world. I can see how this course can grow into a more dynamic and interactive education experience in the future.

从本节课中

America Through French Eyes

The United States has always been a source of fascination for the people of France. French observers and travelers are rarely indifferent to American culture and people. This module, “America Through French Eyes,” examines historical and contemporary perceptions of America, Americans, and Americanization through the lens of French writers, artists, politicians, intellectuals, and public opinion. Taught by Dr. Julie Fette, a professor of French Studies, this module will cover the four themes of the course: Democracy and Modernity; Globalization and Capitalism; Racism and Immigration; and Intellectual and Cultural Life.

教学方

Dr. Anne S. Chao

Dr. Julie Fette

Dr. Jeffrey Fleisher

Dr. Moramay López-Alonso

Dr. Lida Oukaderova

脚本

In our first chapter we've learned that although there had been many episodes of antagonism between France and the United States, the two countries are long time allies. After all, France was the first ally of the United States during the American Revolution. The Marquis de Lafayette is one of the most famous military officers to fight with General George Washington. Although French support of the American Revolutionaries was largely motivated by French hostility to the British, France furnished arms, loans, and troops to the independence cause. In 2015, the frigate L'Hermione set sail from France to the United States. The tall ship was an exact replica of Lafayette's Hermione that voyaged to the United States in 1780, bringing the general across the Atlantic to join the American struggle for independence. Two decades in the making, Hermione's mission, is to symbolize and rekindle the intimate ties between France and the United States and the spirit of liberty that sustains them. As I record this chapter of our French module the Hermione is currently en route to Yorktown, Virginia where the original frigate participated in the blockade that led to British General Lord Cornwallis� surrender. And it will make stops all along the eastern seaboard throughout the summer of 2015. This unprecedented commemoration of Franco-American amiti�, is an extraordinary demonstration of the deep connections between these two democracies. This chapter is about French fascination with American democracy. Both countries struggled to establish democracies, and many in France were amazed to witness it happen across the Atlantic. The foremost commentator on American democracy was Alexi de Tocqueville, who traveled to America and observed its political system, when the new nation was just 53 years old. In 1831 Alexi de Tocqueville was sent to America, on a mission from the monarchy, to observe American prisons and to bring home ideas for improvement of French justice and penal systems. Tocqueville's government report was duly filed into oblivion, but his field notes became the instant best selling book known as Democracy in America. The book was such a hit that it was translated into English immediately, and several other languages. Tocqueville's treatise was reviewed widely and very positively by the French press and intellectuals, and was equally appreciated by Americans as a sensitive and accurate portrayal of their country. The text provided readers at the time with a sophisticated, dispassionate, and balanced view of American political and social life. This is quite impressive when we recall how risky it could have been for a government emissary of the restored French Monarchy to publish a serious work that in many ways extolled democracy. All the while warning against it's potential problems. Indeed, Tocqueville gave a first hand account of the advantages and perils of a republican regime to his fellow countrymen. At a time when France was grappling with political, social and economic change. Tocqueville considered that democracy would inevitably reach France too, one day. During his nine month trip to America, Tocqueville traveled far and wide in the American land, beginning in Newport, Rhode Island. And he met many people. The America he encountered was in the midst of its Western expansion and Jacksonian democracy. You should read Democracy in America, for it is impossible to summarize this great book in a short time. It is highly readable and also, given its two-volume length, it is skimmable. Now, I am going to focus on three themes that Tocqueville highlighted about democracy in America. The equality of conditions, the tyranny of the majority, and the pursuit of material well-being. Tocqueville was impressed with what he called the equality of conditions in America. The first sentences of his book begin as such. “Among the new things that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, none struck me more forcefully than the equality of conditions. I quickly recognized that the influence of this same fact extends well beyond political mores and laws. It creates opinions, engenders feelings, suggests customs, and modifies everything that it does not produce.” Tocqueville observed how social mobility was possible in America, primarily because of inheritance practices that divided family fortunes equally among offspring. And also because of a lesser attachment to family land given the boundless American territory to be developed. By contrast, in Europe, primogeniture dominated, whereby the eldest child, most often the son, would inherit all of the family's fortune, and the other children would have to fend for themselves. This and other factors created a permanent inequality between rich and poor in Europe for centuries. Tocqueville believed that the equality of conditions was a critical feature of American democracy. I wonder what Tocqueville would think about contemporary America. If he could've known that in 2015 the average income of the richest 10% of Americans is 16 times larger than the average income for the poorest 10% of Americans. In France, the difference is only 7 times larger. The tyranny of majority is surely the most well-known concept from Democracy in America. The feared tyrant was no longer a despotic king, but an omnipotent majority, or public opinion which in a democracy could become tyrannical. Democracy could paradoxically pose a danger to individual independence. Popular sovereignty could work very well in local townships, Tocqueville argued, because the majority is generally well informed about issues that concern them, and they are limited in their power. When it came to larger settings of the size of the growing American nation, however, the majority could do great harm, he feared. Not only might competent individuals leave politics to less enlightened fellows, but people's belief in their equality could give them a sense of omnipotence. Americans could develop a dogmatic view that the opinions of the many must prevail over those who hold a minority opinion. A contemporary example of what Tocqueville feared about the tyranny of the majority, is the increased American reliance on referenda. Particularly in the state of California, where by electors directly vote on particular issues, such as taxation and gay marriage, that become binding laws. Many political Political analysts suggest that such votes circumvent representative democracy and undermine individual freedoms because the majority quashes minority opinions and the majority often does not know best. Tocqueville was also struck by what he identified as the American pursuit of material well being. He said, “It is strange to witness the fervent ardor that Americans bring to the pursuit of well-being. And to see how tormented they always seem by a vague fear of not having chosen the shortest way of getting there.” Tocqueville also noticed how restless Americans were in their pursuit of material well-being. He said, “In the United States a man carefully builds a home to live in when he is old and sells it before the roof is laid. He plants a garden and rents it out just as he is about to savor its fruits. The taste for material gratifications must be regarded as the primary source of that secret restlessness revealed by the actions of Americans and the inconstancy they exhibit every day.” Tocqueville worried that excessive individualism and materialism would culminate in democratic apathy. As Americans spend more time improving their individual lot, they participate less in politics. And thereby forfeit their political rights and independence, which are ironically so valued in a democracy. Contemporary examples that give substance to Tocqueville's prophetic warning, are the high rate of abstentionism in American elections, and the blas� attitude that many Americans have toward the loss of privacy and civil liberties in the wake of September 11th and the Patriot Act. There is so much more to Tocqueville than these three concepts I have highlighted today. He made reflections on American society such as religion, individualism, education, gender relations, and of course slavery. You're going to have to read the book to learn the great lessons from America's friend Alexi de Tocqueville. Toqueville's Democracy in America was one of the first and most enduring works that contributed to French opinions about America. And Americans still appreciate this text, too. Almost 200 years after Tocqueville's tour of the United States, American high school students are still reading Democracy in America in English translation. Written for the French, today the book is read more in the United States than in France. Before I conclude, I want to say, that what I love most about Alexi de Tocqueville is his explicit recognition of his outsiderness and his earnest attempts at objectivity as he observes a foreign culture. Of course he is a product of his circumstances. Tocqueville was an educated male form a bourgeois aristocratic background. Which influenced not only what he thought, but also whom he met and where he went in America. But he is conscious of his position and honest with his analysis. He wrote, “I do not know whether I have succeeded in communicating what I saw in America, but it was my sincere wish to do so: of that I am sure. So far as I know I never gave in to the temptation to tailor facts to ideas rather than to adapt ideas to facts.” Particularly in the second volume, Tocqueville actually takes common French generalizations about America and investigates them purposefully. He asks, for example, do Americans or democratic peoples in fact have less aptitude for science, literature, and the arts? Or do Americans devote themselves more the practical applications of science than to the theory? Tocqueville is an excellent model for each of us as we analyze foreign cultures through our own foreign eyes.